Categories

Content Type

Sources

Home sales dip in January

By Alejandro Lazo, Los Angeles Times, Source: MCT News Service

LOS ANGELES _ In another sign that the foundation of the U.S. housing recovery might be shaky, the number of homes placed under sales contract fell 7.6 percent in January, according to a national index.

The National Association of Realtors said Thursday that its pending home sales index, a forward-looking indicator based on contracts signed in January, fell to 90.4 from an upwardly revised 97.8 in December.

That remains 12.3 percent higher than January 2009, when it was 80.5. The group blamed the weather for the month-over-month decline.

"January pending sales, though still higher than one year ago, remain much lower than expected given that a large number of potential buyers are eligible for the expanded home buyer tax credit," Lawrence Yun, chief economist for the Realtors group, said in a statement. "Moreover, the abnormally severe and prolonged winter weather, which affected large regions of the U.S., hampered shopping activity in February."

The January results were the lowest since April. The biggest month-over-month drop came in the West, where the index declined 13.2 percent. The index fell 8.9 percent in the Midwest, 8.7 percent in the Northeast and 2.1 percent in the South.

___

(c) 2010, Los Angeles Times.

Visit the Los Angeles Times on the Internet at http://www.latimes.com/

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.